How to Stay in the Zone When Playing Well

Find Your Zone Focus in Golf

Have you ever played a round of golf where, through the first 14 holes everything was going right then, inexplicably, your game went away and couldn’t make a shot?

Your tee shots were off line, your short game felt uneasy and you second-guessed every putt…

Many golfers don’t understand how their game can change within a round or changes in their level of performance from round to round which creates a tremendous amount of frustration and anger.

Closing out a strong round of golf is not the easiest task in the world but what causes a golfer to be knocked out of their zone?

The reason golfers go from good to bad is that their golf game moves from unconscious to conscious.

When you are playing at your peak, you are not thinking, analyzing, or evaluating your game. You are immersed in what you are doing.

In the unconscious realm, your game seems effortless, you have a sense of calm while playing and your focus is laser-like.

When golfing in the zone, solutions to challenging shots come easily into your mind. In the unconscious realm, you are JUST playing golf and not worrying about your score.

When you switch over to the conscious realm, everything changes. You start over-thinking your swing and your shots, over-analyzing how to play each hole and evaluating how you are playing.

Sometimes you may start to protect your score and try not to make mistakes or bogeys when playing well.

Instead, you want to continue to play the same style of golf that got you in position to score well.

Sebastian Munoz demonstrated the effect of when your unconscious play switches to the conscious realm.

Munoz was on target to becoming the first wire-to-wire winner at the 2017 Greenbriar Classic and led after each of the first three rounds shooting 61, 67 and 68.

Interestingly enough, no third round leader has ever closed out the final round and won the Greenbriar tournament.

Munoz fell prey to the same fate and had four bogeys on the front nine of the final round, shot a 72 and finished tied for third at 12 under.

MUNOZ:“I just think the putt on 4, that short one, I just stepped out of my routine and I missed it and it shook up things for me… But, yeah, I was just trying to find it on the next five or six holes and, yeah, it just created that little lack of confidence or doubt, that created a little doubt and it didn’t help.”

Trying to close out a tournament comes with even more pressure than trying to close out a good round in the making.

How to Keep an Unconscious Mindset:

When you start to over think your game or score, you have to quickly refocus on the next hole or shot.

Score of position is nothing more than a distraction to hitting good shots.

Continue to play aggressive golf and not protect from making mistakes or bogeys.

When playing well–this is not a time to be cautions or protect your score/lead.

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“My short game improved, I did not get down on myself, and dropped my handicap by two strokes.” ~Traci Bateman